Christianity 101

Don't get the whole "Christianity" thing? I can help.

I Love Tim Tebow

I know nothing about football.  Nothing. The kids will joke at school about who likes Michigan better and who likes Michigan State better, so they’ll ask me and I’ll tell them, “Don’t care.”  “But Moooom, which ONE, if you had to pick?!”  They don’t get it, I really don’t care. But now my answer will be this:  my favorite team is whichever one Tim Tebow is playing for.

I loved the Superbowl ads that he and his Mom, Pam, did last year with Focus on the Family.

Then I saw him on this Huffington Post video of his interview on Bill O’Reilly.  Did he just say, in clear language, “God bless you” on television?!  Did he talk about glorifying God with how he plays football?!  How sad that this type of language is so rare now.  I watched it and said to our 12 year old son, “Now THAT is a real man.”

Next I went and ordered two of his new books to send to a couple of my nephews who love football.  It’s called, Through My Eyes.  (Pictured at right.)

photo

Our Real American Roots

“The first bible printed in English in America was printed by Congress for the use of our schools.”

Check out this U.S. Capital tour with David Barton:

We’re Not Too Sentimental Around Here, But…

sentimental

Each year prior to Valentines Day, Kent and I will have a conversation that goes like this…

“We’re not getting each other anything for Valentines Day, right?”

“Righto honey.”

Neither of us are very sentimental, obviously, and we’re both a little on the cheap side, too.  But I sure love to wake up to a little surprise like the one pictured above now and then!

Here’s the back-story…

For years Kent jokingly called me, “Agnes”, and I laughed along at this silly name that sounded a bit like a Grandma.  (No offense to any of you young women named Agnes, keep reading…)  Until the first time he sent me such a sweet surprise on Saint Agnes’ feast day!  (In case you’re like I was and don’t know what a “feast day” is, it’s a day when the Church celebrates the life of a great Saint.)  Now I get a warm fuzzy every time he calls me that.

agnes Saint Agnes is a beautiful Saint in the Church and her feast day is January 21st.  You can read more about her here.  🙂

Plugged In Online – A Great Resource

plugged in online

Things are very busy these days as I’ve been promoting my new Real Food for Rookies Class, but I wanted to share with you a great resource that I often tap into as a parent:  Plugged In Online.  That’s the first place I go when wondering if a video, movie, video game, TV show or music is “OK” for the kids.  There’s so much crap coming at them these days, I don’t want to let in any more junk if I can catch it first.  I love their search box, because it only takes me a few seconds to know what I need to know before letting them watch, listen or play.

A few years ago Kal wanted to play “Grand Theft Auto” at a friend’s house.  He wasn’t happy when I pulled up this site that quickly convinced me NOT to let him play.  I found out that a few levels into it are some really terrible ways to earn extra points.  One especially offensive way to earn more and move up levels is if you rape a girl.  Yeah, NOT what I was going to let my pre-teen boy be exposed to.

Check it out and bookmark it so you can get there quickly when you need it:

Plugged In Online

FREE Summer Fun

airfair

Sometimes Kent & I will talk about what we think is the coolest part of God’s creation.  People or nature?  What would you say?  What’s really fun is when you can enjoy them both at the same time, and all for free!

The other night I crawled in bed with the kids and we talked about what fun things we wanted to do this summer.  They each shouted out a few things and when we were done I looked over the list and realized that not one of them cost money, and most of them will be easy to pull off, too.  🙂

Here’s the list we came up with, and I thought it might inspire you to come up with your own list:

  • Go to the airport park with a picnic to watch jets take off and land.
  • Go to Lake Michigan beach when the jets are practicing for the air fair.  (We love jets, can you tell?  But we hate crowds and high ticket prices.)
  • Go to another local beach by us, only 10 minutes away and free!
  • Take some walks in the dark.
  • Take some nature walks around our woods and out to the sand dunes.  Play in the creek and throw stones in.
  • Walk around downtown Rockford more.
  • Walk around downtown Grand Rapids and visit a fire station there.
  • Sleep in a tent in the back yard.  (Maybe Dad will do that one.)

Rainy Day Ideas:

  • Play outside in the rain.
  • Play board games.
  • Goof around with Google Maps on the computer.
  • Play the Wii together.

Don’t those sound like fun?  I’d love to hear more of your ideas in the comments.  🙂

photo credit

The 5 Best Kept Christian Secrets to the Best Sex Ever by Hallee the Homemaker

Best Sex

Sorry it’s been a few days since I last posted here, my other blog (the one that pays the bills…sorta…OK, not really) has kept me busy along with the Rookie class I’m working feverishly on, but I’ve got some goodies for you today!

Hallee recently wrote a great series that I think you’ll enjoy, and it may even help your marriage.

We all know that when things are cooking in the bedroom, you can tolerate a lot more around the rest of the house.  And when you’re getting along better overall, the whole family is stronger.  I wrote a little about this in my post about passion in marriage.

Read an excerpt:

“Before we go further, I think we should cover something I hear about a lot from friends – they feel guilty somehow if they enjoy sex, like it makes them “bad”. What a bunch of bunk! You’ve probably been asked this before, but guess who invented sex? And He didn’t invent it only for making babies, as amazing as that part of it is! He’s smart, He knows that when channeled correctly (in a healthy marriage), it can be powerful and fun and a beautiful way to keep spouses close and families strong, in this world that often beats up on us. If you’ve ever heard of Pope John Paul II’s, “Theology of the Body“, you know that there is even more to it than most of us ever tap into, but I won’t go into that here. Just believe that it is meant to be a special, and even a holy way for spouses to enjoy each other and to keep their marriage strong.”

Now go read the series from Hallee, she’s a very forthright and entertaining writer and I know you’ll enjoy reading it!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on all this!

The Blind Side

If you haven’t seen the movie, The Blind Side, yet, it’s something you just have to do.  Even the trailer (below) makes me cry, but not in a sob your eyes out way.  It’s more because now that I know the story, it’s so beautiful that just thinking of it puts me over the edge.

Pray Big For Your Child

pray for your kids

My friend, Hallee, posted this neat story today that I wanted to share with you:  Pray Big For Your Child.

After reading it you may want to check out this book that I’ve been praying with for years now.  As you can see from the picture above, I write in the date each time I pray that page for my kids.  These prayers are a great way to get me out of the same old, “Lord please keep our kids safe and healthy” rut.  This book is part of my morning routine… the days that I am good about putting time with God first that is.  (Sometimes the morning gets away from me and I don’t have that quiet time – then I feel out of sorts the rest of the day when that happens.)  The book is called,

Praying the Bible for Your Children

praying the bible book

Do you have any tips for praying for your child?

Related posts:

 

Praying hands Photo Credit

The Advent Event


We LOVE this Advent activity.

It is a great way to explain the whole story of creation to your kids, but without the stress of one more thing you “have to do” this Christmas season. We don’t do one per day because some days we can’t get to it. I just have each child color one or two pictures at a time, and there are usually neighbor kids helping, too. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to talk about the short stories with the pictures as they color and do the hand-motions (the kids love that part), and then we tape it on our string. Easy! You can hang your string on the mantel or on a railing somewhere. Sometimes we’ll have homemade cocoa for a treat while we’re coloring. 🙂

You can order here for only $5: https://www.theadventevent.com/